What is a Refugee? (eBook)

1. Introduction Some categories and distinctions Some recurring themes The objectives and structure of this book 2. Defining 'refugees' International refugee law: origins The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees Broader legal definitions Refugee protection under other branches of law Status determination by states Ordinary language understandings of 'refugee' Philosophical definitions of 'refugee' 3. Exile and Refuge: A Brief Overview Political violence, marginalization and the human experience Exile and ideology from the 17th to the early 20th century Russian and German refugees between the World Wars Postwar refugee resettlement Internal conflict and refugee movements in the late 20th and early 21st centuries 4. States and Refugees The Westphalian system Bureaucracy and its failings Individual initiatives People smuggling: a product of state inaction 5. Roots of Refugee 'Crises' in a Globalized World State disruption and violent conflict The fear of 'terrorism' Transport, the wherewithal to travel, and human mobility Globalization and its impacts 6. Diplomacy and Refugees Frameworks for negotiation over refugees 'Burden sharing' and its dilemmas The temptation of 'easy options' Refugees as agents 7. Refugees, Intervention and the 'Responsibility to Protect' The use of force The idea of humanitarian intervention 'Intervention' as a solution The Responsibility to Protect 8. 'When Adam delved and Eve span ...': Some Reflections on Closing and Opening Borders The costs of controlled borders The moral costs of refugee exclusion Confronting the 'Birthright Lottery' Endnotes and Index